There are several reasons to be joyful about my training recently…

1)I can feel myself getting stronger and fitter

2)I am definitely recovering from that awful illness I had a couple weeks ago

3)It will probably start snowing next week and not stop until June

4)The colder weather has made working out so much more comfortable

Recovering from  being sick last week seemed to take forever.  I basically did nothing for a few days (it felt like months) and then still only did an easy run and short strength session.  That was pretty much it, and lots of sleep, reading, eating, and more sleep.  My first workout resembling anything hard finally came on Thursday when I did 15×90 secs. double poling on roller skis.  It’s always so hard to start working out again after stopping like that.  But it feels good to be back.  Yesterday I did VO2max intervals, 7×3 minutes.  I was pretty close to max heart rate for the last minute of each one.  With a nice long warm up and cool down it was close to 2.5 hours.  I was wiped.

Okay, I admit it, I’m sick. 

The past ten days have been a whirlwind of butt kicking for me.  That is, I have been kicking my own butt.  Last week I did a lot of hard workouts, mostly by myself.  With no teammates working hard with me, no coaching watching and expecting me to work hard, it’s just me and my own butt.  Now, this is nothing new for me and ski training.  I pretty much always have to motivate and work out by myself.  Last week was especially hard though, because I really picked up the intensity from what I had been doing this summer. 

This summer I kicked my butt so hard working in the kitchen at Camp Gray, that I didn’t have the energy or time I needed to train like I wanted to.  I did get a ton of good workouts in, just maybe not as much as the US ski team.  The kitchen also kicked my butt last week when many of my highest volume days were days I worked 8 hours. 

The real “kicker” is this though - I made myself take a rest day.  This is actually harder for me to do than to work out when I feel crappy, but I’m learning it’s the right thing to do.  I just felt so crappy I knew it would be dumb to do the workout I had planned, or any workout.  I gave myself a stern talking to and spend the day doing, well, nothing.  I hate rest days.  I hate unplanned rest days even more.  But if that’s what it takes…

Today I actually had my butt kicked by Denise Austin in pilates.  Some other people here at camp have started doing weekly pilates.  I figure, I might as well take advantage of the opportunity to work out with others for a while.  Denise is the crazy lady on the DVD who can do crazy things with her body, all while talking to you an that annoying, patronizing voice.  I told her if she kept talking to me like that I was going to kick her butt, but she didn’t listen. 

Bad News:  After not being able to sleep until about 1 am and getting up at 6 to make breakfast, my legs were hurting this morning.

Good News: After sneaking in a quick nap between breakfast and lunch I felt well enough to do a roller ski workout this afternoon.

Recently I have been evicted from my home and, with nowhere else to go, I have decided to make the jump and start living and training at the world famous Camp Gray Olympic Training Center.

Since I know that there are masses of concerned citizens out there wondering, “what the heck has Mo-T been up to recently?”  I will fill you in. 

Here at camp we have this wonderful thing called the Gorman House.  It is actually the name of the house in which the Directors live.  However, every Sunday morning it tuns into a huge breakfast for all the staff here.  Come anytime between 9 and 11 am and get your fill of french toast, sticky buns, toast, bagels, yogurt, granola, eggs, fruit and assorted other amazing breakfast foods.  People wake up whenever they want, come get some food and move on to getting ready for their campers.  I, however, like to come and actually eat for the whole two hours.

Last week our assistant director, Joe, moved on to a new chapter in his life. Yesterday a co-worker, Sara, came across me having a “moment of weakness” next to our freezer. In trying to explain what was wrong through my tears, I wasn’t speaking very clearly. Resultantly (perhaps not a real word, but way more exciting than “as a result”), Sara heard “Joe”. In relaying this conversation to Joe today, he also cried. Really, though, what I had said was “snow”.